New Music Reviews
Edwyn Collins, Concorde 2, Brighton review - enjoyable evening of tight guitar popFriday, 13 September 2019![]()
In March of this year Edwyn Collins released his ninth studio album, Badbea, his fourth since two life-altering cerebral haemorrhages derailed him in 2005. It’s a vivacious collection that runs the gamut of what guitar pop can be, from acoustic strumming to psychedelic riffing to lo-fi punkin’, all catchy as burrs. Read more... |
CD: Metronomy - Metronomy ForeverWednesday, 11 September 2019![]()
According to Metronomy maestro Joseph Mount, his first attempt of album number six was a much snappier affair. But it wasn’t until he broke from his self-imposed immediacy that it started connecting with him. In its final form, Metronomy Forever clocks in at 17 tracks of singles, instrumentals and soundscapes, and though it skirts close to double-album indulgence, you’re never more than one song away from a winner. Read more... |
The Flaming Lips, Brixton Academy review - an explosion of joyTuesday, 10 September 2019![]()
“Thanks for being in here with us tonight,” Wayne Coyne begins, “when you could be outside with the universe shining down on us.” Having clearly experienced a pre-gig epiphany from the unexceptional South London sky, The Flaming Lips singer seems primed to take us all higher. Read more... |
Prom 66: In the Name of the Earth review - John Luther Adams's ambitious choral spectacularMonday, 09 September 2019![]()
This is the kind of thing that the Proms does well – indeed, where else would it get an outing? Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Slade - Feel The NoizeSunday, 08 September 2019![]()
Original UK pressings of Slade’s Seventies mega-hit singles like “Coz I Luv You”, “Everyday”, “Gudbuy T’Jane” and “Mama Weer all Crazee Now” sell for between £1 and £5 if they’re in decent shape. If a copy is needed to listen to, there’s little need to fork out more than £2. Read more... |
Michael Rother, Jazz Cafe review - classic Krautrock from the Neu! and Harmonia legendThursday, 05 September 2019![]()
Neu!, Neu! 2 and Neu! 75. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tunnelvision - Watching the HydroplanesSunday, 01 September 2019![]()
A ghostly voice pronounces “there’s no need to make the sepulchre white.” Following this declaration, what sounds like an ocarina wails mournfully over spindly guitar, a sonorous bass guitar and circular, heartbeat drumming. Tunnelvision’s “Whitened Sepulchre” isn’t a happy-go-lucky look at life. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 52: Yardbirds, Fad Gadget, Spoon, Cate le Bon, Cabaret Voltaire and moreSaturday, 31 August 2019![]()
Welcome to the latest edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl, the monthly online musical resource that knows no genre boundaries as it treks through every release on plastic that it can find. Read more... |
Duff McKagan, Islington Assembly Hall review – Guns N' Roses bassist revels in the spotlightFriday, 30 August 2019![]()
Guns N’ Roses members do love a side project, from Slash’s Snakepit and Conspirators to Axl’s stint as AC/DC frontman. Read more... |
Peaches, Royal Festival Hall review - blissful anarchyThursday, 29 August 2019![]()
“Thank you for making us so fucking special!” It’s the end the set and both adjectives are appropriate. “Yes I had to say fucking special,” Peaches yells, combative and loved. Read more... |
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